Roddick survives Hewitt epic to reach Wimbledon semis

It was the 12th meeting between the players but arguably their best contest yet, with five sets and almost four hours of tennis needed to separate them on Court One.

Roddick eventually emerged a 6-3, 6-7 (10/12), 7-6 (7/1), 4-6, 6-4 winner to set up a semi-final clash with home favourite Andy Murray, and the sixth seed was relieved to survive.

High on drama
"It certainly wasn't short on drama," Roddick said. "It was tough from a mental standpoint, because Lleyton wasn't going away and there were kind of a lot of ebbs and flows to the match.

"I'm just happy to be on the good side of it. Right now it's a mixture of happiness, of relief. In your mind you're trying to stay the course for four hours, constantly figuring out what you're going to do.

"Your mind is just racing for four hours, so then it's relief, happiness, and almost an instant shutdown mode. But I was happy to be through."

Despite the defeat, Hewitt's surprise run to the last eight has renewed the 28-year-old's self-confidence, especially after wins over seeds Juan Martin Del Potro and Radek Stepanek along the way.

"Coming into this particular tournament I felt pretty good physically, and I knew mentally I'd be able to hang around for five sets against the best guys," Hewitt explained.

Extra belief
"It's more just an extra added belief now that I can go out there and can do it more than anything.

"There's a lot of positives to take out of it. The guys that I've beaten, especially the Del Potro match, the way that I actually went out there and took it to him.

"Even losing to Andy today, he's one of the best grass-court players out there. He's been to a couple of Wimbledon finals, a few semis here as well.

"I would have liked to have snuck through but it's not a bad loss."

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